Obbo (Mr.) Sintayehu Gadaa, who had served the Oromian Cultural and Tourism Bureau for about 15 years at different positions, has defected from the Ethiopian regime, according to a report by the Voice of Oromo Liberation (VOL/SBO). Obbo Sintayehu Gadaa is an Oromo, the largest nation in the Horn of Africa and Ethiopia, but a nation politically and economically marginalized and repressed for the last 120 years in its own homeland, Oromia.

The defection of Obbo Sintayehu Gadaa comes at the same time as Obbo Leggese Alemu Gurmu’s, a prominent lawyer, who abandoned the regime while he was on a trip to the United States in July 2011. Before abandoning the regime, Obbo Leggese Alemu Gurmu was the Director of the Legal Research, Drafting, Training and Public Legal Education Directorate at the Ministry of Justice.

The defections could indicate the growing discontent of Oromo government officials at the systematic and hideous policies of the TPLF minority regime towards the Oromo nation; the recently revealed policy to systematically spoil the Oromo culture and language in order to make them unappealing to the Oromo youth as well as the harsh implementation of a slew of recently promulgated controversial legislation, which human rights organizations have called “draconian,” are just a few of the policies of the TPLF regime targeting the Oromo nation.

Some independent observers say that latest violent crackdown on the Oromo are attempts by the TPLF regime to respond to the discontent.

Below is an interview conducted with Obbo Sintayehu Gadaa after his defection.

- Source: Bilisummaa.com